Recent Questions & Answers
I purchased (4) 357 gram bricks of 42 year old Pu Er tea in Kunming. What is the value of this fine grade tea? Also purchased was 20 year Pu Er; I have been drinking this tea and it is wonderful.
Pu'er tea is VERY difficult to estimate value. Generally speaking a 42 year old pu'er will be far more valuable than a 20 year old one.
A few things complicate this though. Initial tea grade / quality, storage, and authenticity. Caked pu'er is often more susceptible to fakes or semi-fakes (inner leaves different from outer ones) than the loose tea varieties. And a very old pu'er still won't have much value if it wasn't a decent quality tea to begin with. So, the only way for you to get a proper value pinned to your tea is by taking it to an expert and hoping for the best.
Without all the knowledge to prove where it came from it will be quite a difficult job. One thing that can help you check the authenticity is to always ask to see the pack of 7 cakes where the tea in question came from. Most pu'er is referred to as 'qizibing', which implies that it is one of seven cakes.
The material used to bind the 7 cakes together should be evidently aged more visibly than the tea itself. Another quick way to know if your tea is 100% freshly out of the factory and not nearly as old as the merchant says is by checking to see if there are both gold and multiple shades of brown on the cake. Any old tea aged more than 4 or 5 years will be quite uniform in its darkness. Your best bet is to always buy from a close source that knows about pu'er tea. Anyone selling pu'er 'should' know all the above points that I just mentioned.
What is your recommendation for the most wonderful, expensive, fragranced white tea? Please send price as well. How would it compare to the osmanthus scented oolong? Frangrance and rarity are are the number one elements. Thank You !!!!!!!
Hi,
I would have to say that my favorite is definitely the An Ji white currently available on our web site. Though, it is technically not 100% a true white tea. The Bai Hao Siver Needles is a much finer and more expensive real white tea that you may enjoy.
The Osmanthus oolongs are scented oolongs, and therefore extremely floral and quite strong. The Bai Hao teas are exceptionally subtle, so I would say quite the opposite! For fragrance and rarity, go for either Tie Guan Yin oolongs (or the even more fragrant versions called Guan Yin Wang) or for our Wu Yi oolongs. I'd have to say that when it comes to the finest and most fragrant we usually drink Shui Xian Wang oolong, Da Hong Pao or Tie Guan Yin; maybe even in that order! I would still highly recommend our An Ji tea though, since it is superb. White teas are all about subtleties and a very clean and clear look in the glass. Bai Hao Silver Needles are beautiful to watch steeping in a tall clear glass. But if you were to drink anything but water before it, you will have wasted good tea! (yes, extremely light and fine flavour).
How effective is Imperial Kuding on lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol?
Unfortunately although Kuding is considered by Chinese medicine to be a medicinal herbal, there have not been (or we are not yet aware of) any studies conducted to prove or disprove its value. On the other hand I can easily point you to countless sources for journal entries concerning the value of tea (in particular Oolong and Green).
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/91/101106.htm
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3002624
http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/blood/articleView.asp?MessageID=69
You can be assured that you will be getting the absolute highest quality product from Golden Teahouse - And I continue to drink multiple cups of anything and nearly everything lying around here for more reasons than taste alone! That being said, I rarely if ever drink Kuding simply because I have a constant supply of Da Hong Pao oolong always by my side.
I prefer teas with minimum astringency (or tannin), which green and oolong teas would you recommend?
Good question. Lots of people want that but aren't sure how to ask. I'll give you few options..
For greens, I'd suggest Dong Ting Biluochun. Our Long Jings are all excellent too and can always be made in such a way to avoid astringency. Biluochun in particular is a very light and smooth green so shouldn't present any problems. For oolongs, I would suggest Dong Ding, or premium Tie Guan Yin/Guan Yin Wang. If you are willing to try a black, the Yunnan Emperor Gold is the smoothest of its kind.. quite a treat. Also, the Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver needle) is a fantastically non-astringent white tea; though it is subtle in every sense of the word.
I truly miss very, very fragrant green tea that is like the green tea I used to drink when I lived in Southern China!
I have not been able to buy really good green tea in the USA. I currently buy Lu An Gua Pian, and it is okay, but not as fragrant as I am looking for. What can you recommend?
...as for recommendations on tea and since you have a lot of experience in this part of the world, I would recommend any of our Long Jing teas (they are all very high grade compared to what you would commonly find online or in shops) as well as our An Ji white tea. It's more of a green tea and is amazingly fragrant. Also the Dong Ting Biluochun is also fantastic. Of course I would also encourage you to try some of our Tie Guan Yin (or Guan Yin Wang) and Wu Yi oolong varieties. If you have an interest in Chinese tea then these will certainly impress you.
